JUL 28 2024 | Josiah S1E3 | Walk the Talk Together

Sea Change Church · JUL 28 2024 | Josiah – S1 Ep 3: Walk the Talk Together
2 Kings 23:1-3
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

A little parallel to Josiah this morning. All right? We have a choice. She made that choice. Ava's marvelous and one of my heroes in life. Number one. He used his influence to call people together. Number two. Josiah, by word and example, taught what I'll just call here the three R's to all the people. The king went up to the house of the Lord and with him all the people, small and great.

And he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found. Read out the words that were there in the book invited others to come to the Lord. And in that, he focused the lives of the people on faith. I put a few verses here. Pastor Adams already covered them. Faith comes by hearing. Hearing by the word of God. James 1.8.

Your word, says David, is the lamp to my feet, a light to my path. I've said to both skateboarders and surfers over the years, a lamp to my feet. It shows me where to put my feet on the board or on the skateboard. And a light to my path. It shows me where I'm going, how to catch the wave, which way to go, how not to go over the curb and become a statistic.

Right? Those kinds of things. A lamp to my feet, a light to my path. Your word. The third one. The word of God is active, powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. What is the sword about? It's about spiritual warfare. Every morning, I pray through a list that God gives me and I have a few lists, other names I've got. And I say, Lord, I pray you will rebuke any strange spirits away from this person.

I've got three kids, six grandkids. Pray for that. Pray for my dear wife. All these different people and others as God leads. Because God is able. Ephesians 6, the whole armor of God. God is able to defend us from any strange, distracting spirit, any kind of thing out there that might try and seize our attention or become number one in our lives. So there is that.

There is also, as we've talked about, can I make a shameless advertisement? Is it okay? Shameless advertisement. My wife Linda and I co-teach a Bible study Thursday nights. We're going to start convening again in September, as many of our small groups will. And one of the things we talked about, and there was in the group an ophthalmologist, we talked about the word is sharper than a two-edged sword, and he says, that's for surgery.

He says, I do eye surgery. And he said, God, as I came to Christ two years ago, took the glaucoma out of my eyes. He has surgically repaired my eyes. God can operate on whatever cancer is threatening your life. Whatever blockage, whatever tumor, whatever pulled muscle, whatever is going on, God can do the surgery on your life. The word of God is active and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword.

And so, here is God's word. And there, there was a choice that had to be attended to by Josiah. Am I going to make this yet another dictatorship? Or am I going to start inviting people together? Because the temptation, as you see in the note here, one of the citations about culture, is that oftentimes, God calls us to be culture creators, not just critics or consumers, but culture creators.

And in doing that, there are these terms that come up with a Latin background, a re prefix, ! Repent! Reform! Restore! Reconcile! Renew! Rejoice! Remember! Revive! Redeem! All those kinds of re-words. I wrote an article on this for Dictionary of Christian Spirituality some years ago, a book that I, you know, co-edited. The re-words of the Christian faith. That might be of interest to you.

What are some of the re-words that are active in your life? Might it be good in serving God to reconcile, reconcile with someone? Might it be good in serving God to renew a friendship, to restore best practices because you've kind of gotten wobbly over time? The re-words of spiritual life. That's part of what Pastor Adam's been focusing us on in different ways.

That's part of what the run-up from Coldplay was about, right? And so, with that, we have an opportunity by word and example like Josiah to be culture creators, not just consumers and not just critics pointing our finger at everything that displeases us or seems out of order. In this unique election year, that seems like a virtue, doesn't it? Being a culture creator rather than either a consumer, yeah, I'll just suck it all in, or a critic where everything bugs me and I become cynical.

Anybody know what I'm talking about? All right. So let's be culture creators. Let's start in creating culture around us. Ways and patterns of relationship and the re-words may be helpful there. What's an example of that? Very simply. It was some years ago I was teaching in Nairobi, Kenya at a university, a course on early African Christianity. One of the joys of life was teaching Africans about the African church in the first six centuries, one of my interests, and numbers of them saying, I never even knew that stuff.

I never heard of it and I live here, right? So during that time I visited a Coptic Orthodox church. That's Egyptian Orthodox. And I went in just to pray. You know, one of the things that my wife and I believe and I think many of us believe is that our Lord Jesus is so big that no one group can express the fullness of Christ. Isn't that true? No one group can express the fullness of Christ.

Nobody's got a corner on the market. Nobody's got to say, yeah, I got it and the rest of you are used goods. Not going to happen. No one group can express the fullness of our Lord. That gives us humility and that gives us a focus. And so in that, walked into the Coptic church to pray. Met a couple of people there. My Coptic is poor but they spoke enough English and we shared and I was looking up and I saw a banner and I couldn't read it because it was in Coptic but this huge banner in the Coptic Orthodox church in Nairobi next to the hospital that has been an incredible blessing to that part of Kenya.

Supported in part by the Coptic church by Christians and it said 2 Chronicles 7.14. Now I didn't know what any of the Coptic was but I'd memorized 2 Chronicles. I didn't learn it with some crocodiles. Chronicles 7.14 as a kid. If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and seek my face and turn from their messed up ways then I will hear from heaven and I will heal their land.

So eventually someone who came in who spoke a little English I said what's the story and they said Kenya is a marvelous country but we were in deep trouble because the tribes were fighting against each other verbally and in some cases on battlegrounds and we just said what should we do we're just going to put that verse up there and pray that verse here in the capital of Kenya and see what God does and they said you know what against all odds God worked people who said I'm in control I'm in power I'm in all this I got all right they released that and they formed teams and they formed cooperative arrangements and he said we were close to the edge here in Kenya but this this country this country in many ways was saved isn't that beautiful and that was by a verse of scripture up there they just said keep praying it keep bringing it keep focusing on that don't get into a bunch of petty arguments just keep your eyes on the biblical prize and so with that that great commandment came to life Josiah used his influence to call he used his word and example teaching others as he read the word publicly inviting them to come together all these re-words apply to create a new culture that Coptic church illustrates it and then Josiah inspired community with God and one another through a covenant through embracing God's people it says the king didn't yell at everybody didn't issue a bunch of mandates didn't make a bunch of commands he just stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the Lord himself to walk after the Lord to keep his commandments I'm reading from verse 3 and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart all his soul does that sound familiar?

that's great commandment language so he didn't yell at everybody he just said Lord I want to be an example he read the word he made a public commitment and in that to perform the words of the covenant that were written and it says then what happened all the people joined in to the covenant that was an invitation a covenant how beautiful that is let me make a simple statement here it's in your notes the difference between a contract and a covenant contract's not a bad word a legal contract my wife and I for example married I met when I was we met when I was a junior in high school right and she's awesome awesome thank you Lord so eventually we got married and there was a contract in the eyes of the state there was a legal standing and all that and we could cooperate in those ways but deeper than the contract is a covenant a contract think of the word tractor a contract pulls you into position like a tractor old Latin roots but a covenant some of you may know the Spanish word venir V-E-N-I-R which is to come venir and with that a covenant invites us to come together come let us reason together it says elsewhere in the Old Testament even though things are messed up I can heal you says the Lord so a covenant and that's at the heart of our marriage so when I do premarital counseling and I have permission from two couples one of them was here a couple a couple of weeks ago and it was fun Molly and Bryce I don't know if you know them the Rautercus and they were here from Hawaii I'm wearing a Hawaiian tie both to honor their covenant in anniversary time but also this was given to me by one of my USD kids I taught there for 17 years and one of them who said I've never heard about Jesus before until this class and now I want to follow him we're still in touch like with a number of other students too so I'm wearing this in their honor right Molly and Bryce in counseling it's a covenant is there a contract yeah but it's a coming together it's a sharing together it's a come let's pray and think and explain and interpret together it's a covenant also this is upcoming the third anniversary for another couple Tamara and Jose they are active in the class I'll spare you I'm not going to tell a lot of stories but it's time for a close simply to say this that a contract is different than a covenant and the statement here by one of the earliest commentators on this passage a man named Ambrose of Milan year 391 Milan, Italy he was instrumental in St. Augustine coming to faith in Christ at age 32 Augustine had been a mess up until he came to Christ Ambrose shares his faith with him in an inviting gentle way and the quote from Ambrose is about Josiah by devotion and faith Josiah won great love from his enemies as in divine zeal he was superior to those before so may you be my children let zeal for God search and consume you but not the usual earthly type of zeal which causes jealousy this is not competitive this is cooperative and with that a very simple word this morning and we need to pause at this point and a simple thank you Lord for your word your word is a lamp to our feet a light to our path thank you for good examples please forgive me for taking four minutes extra in the sermon and Lord may I be forgiven by these and as Harry comes to pray a blessing on us all may we celebrate and go to serve you in your holy name amen and then you you you to the man I do I do the man to the man to the man to the man to the man you you you I you I do I do I do I do I do I do �� �� �� �� �� �� �� �� nd �륤 the preaching of the word of God.

We're going to respond together in worship, and then I'll come back up. We'll close this. You're the way, the truth, and the life. You're the well that never runs dry. I'm the branch and you are the vine. Draw me close and teach me to abide. Be my strength, my song in the night. Be my all, my treasure, my prize. I am yours forever, you're mine. Draw me close and teach me to abide.

If you want to continue to respond, I want to invite you guys. We've got an amazing prayer team up here. Come and receive prayer. Come and stay and get prayed over. If you've got questions or you want to get more involved, there's a next steps table in the back. We'd love to connect with you to get you more involved. We'd also love to bless you at this church, so I want to invite you to extend your hands as we bless you and send you out.

Father God, I just pray that you would make us a people not afraid to dive deep into your word, to hear your truth, God, to be transformed and to be a people who respond. Respond to your goodness, respond to your grace, respond to your mercy, to be transformed, Lord. We also lift up the newlyweds, Adam's daughter, Lily and Mason King. God, bless them, bless their marriage.

Lord, we love you, we need you. You're the king, and we live to serve the king. We pray this in your name. Amen. God bless you guys. Amen. God bless you guys. You're the way, the truth, and the life. You're the well that never runs dry. Amen. Amen.